“My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest;
Every year the green ivy grows longer.
No news of the affairs of men,
Only the occasional song of a woodcutter.
The sun shines and I mend my robe;
When the moon comes out I read Buddhist poems.
I have nothing to report, my friends.
If you want to find the meaning, stop chasing after so many things.”
– Ryokan Taigu in ‘One Robe, One Bowl’, a collection of poems written two centuries ago and translated by John Stevens
Hi friend,
I have been reading this today half way up a mountain, thinking about all the things we keep on chasing and wondering why we do that, and realising these questions are always much easier to ask half way up a mountain…
As Black Friday arrives in full force this week, I am asking myself these three questions – feel free to help yourself to them too:
- What is calling you?
- What kind of a world do you want to live in?
- What investment, if any, do you need to make to play a role in creating that kind of world, through whatever is calling you?
Asking myself these questions then leads me to ‘How can you use the huge opportunity of discounts on pretty much everything to answer that call – to invest in yourself, support a small business or cause you care about, or take a step towards something new – not just chasing something but going deeper on something?’
Black Friday is noisy and distracting and produces horrendous amounts of waste when we buy stuff we don’t need BUT it’s also a fantastic opportunity to get things that will actually make a difference, at a big discount. So I am trying to walk the middle line, not getting sucked in but also not turning away completely, in case there are ways it can help me in my answers to those questions. Perhaps you might like to do the same?
If you want to go further with this, help yourself to my free reflection and planning tool ‘My Perfectly Imperfect 2023 Digital Planner’ – this is something I offer every year and if you haven’t downloaded yours yet, you can get it for free HERE.
And if any of your questions lead you towards wanting to make a change in your life, get organised, develop a nourishing writing practice, write a book or start teaching online, then feel free to take advantage of my Black Friday sale with up to 50% off all my life-changing courses over at dowhatyouloveforlife.com. Just sayin’ 🙂
Beth Xx
